China: Single-Malt Scotch New Status Symbol

In China, Scotch whisky is becoming a status symbol for the young and rich.

But these new whisky drinkers – mostly affluent, self-made men — are shelling out big money for single malts, skipping the blended Scotches, which are typically a starter for new drinkers of this liquor in the West.

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In Asia, “young people are going straight to single malts, drinking in clubs and restaurants,” says David Pattison, regional manager of emerging markets at the Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd., who was in Asia recently to promote the Scotland-based company’s Bowmore line of single malts. That’s far different from what typically happens in the West, where single malts are the choice of a more “mature drinker and they drink it at home.”